A closed electric melting furnace having a device for batchwise charging and implemented by a hollow-cylinder rotational body is disclosed in German patent publication OS 28 51 734. The rotational body is, with the exception of a single outlet, closed so that furnace exhaust gases are unable to flow through charge scrap or material contained in the rotational body.
A device for preheating the charge material for electric melting furnaces in which containers mounted on the cover of an electric furnace have scraping devices that allow the charge material to enter the furnace is disclosed in German Patent No. PS 56 27 41. The tiltable furnace includes a cover on which scrap containers, fillable by hand or in conjunction with a conveyer belt, are mounted. This construction is, however, suitable for use with only the finest scrap material, such as steel chips and similar waste materials, and cannot be used for charging the furnace with or preheating the coarse scrap normally processed in the metallurgical industry.
An induction melting furnace with integrated charging shafts that are located in the furnace cover and to which a gas exhaust system is also attached is disclosed in German Patent No. PS 35 40 734. The charging shafts include prongs that interengage in the closed condition of the prongs and which serve as a braking device for cathode blanks that come off. Such non-generic charging shafts for cathodes, with their feeder table and charging flap, are neither appropriate for use with nor suggest a way of providing suitable storage containers for electric arc furnaces for melting scrap and in which the charge material is preheated.